Goldman won two Academy Awards: an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for All the President's Men. He also won two Edgar Awards, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Motion Picture Screenplay: for Harper in 1967, and for Magic (adapted from his own 1976 novel) in 1979. I’m starting to see a pattern. If I really like a book, I don’t bother writing notes about it cause I just like to read it. It's not perfect, but not problematic enough to derail the enjoyment. Some of the anecdotes about movies Goldman wrote are a little meh. "The Princess Bride", arguably his best known novel and script to modern audiences, seems a little passive in its insights, fawning over the pleasurable experience (I guess bad experiences can be more interesting).

Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood

Actors in interviews always present themselves as charming, poised, and self-deprecatingly humorous. It’s an act. They’re actors, acting. Goldman is one of the best storytellers this country has produced, which may seem a bold claim to some, but it happens to be true. His most famous axiom, that “nobody knows anything” is one of those things that grow truer with time and experience. Goldman was referring to success in the movie business, the idea being that when something worked and was a hit, it just kind of worked and nobody really knew why, though everyone with a hand in the production would claim otherwise. The two movies Goldman is most proud of? The first, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, isn’t surprising. He worked on that script for eight years, and he won his first Academy Award for best original screenplay in 1970. But the second, A Bridge Too Far, is. Goldman writes that Bridge was probably his best experience making movies. I've got it on DVD, so I need to watch it again. I remember it had an all-star cast, and was one of the last epic World War II movies. As a successful screenwriter and novelist, William Goldman was perfectly placed to write one of the definitive insider accounts of Hollywood. If you like cinema then this is a fascinating read. Although written in 1983, with many films he cites from this era, I am sure the process is little changed. WILLIAM GOLDMAN (born 1931) is an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the 1950s as a novelist, before turning to writing for film. He has won two Academy Awards for his screenplays, first for the western _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_ (1969) and again for _All the President's Men_ (1976), about journalists who broke the Watergate scandal of President Richard Nixon. Both films starred Robert Redford. His other notable works include his thriller novel Marathon Man (first published 1974) and comedy-fantasy novel, The Princess Bride (first published 1973), both of which Goldman adapted for film."Captain January. 1936. Shirley Temple. I was five and she was eight. My first time sitting there in the dark, I remember her curls so plainly. And could her dimples have been as large as they seemed? If the answer is no, don't tell me. Now I’m at the point where I like this book so much I have to deliberately slow myself down reading it cause I want it to last longer. Addendum: Since this original post has been published, the great William Goldman has passed away. O n Thursday, November 15th, 2018 Mr. Goldman said his final goodbyes at 87 years old. Our friends at The Script Lab compiled some of the most profound social posts from Hollywood screenwriters to honor his life. Read: Hollywood Screenwriters Remember William Goldman I've been a fan for forty-six of my fifty-one years. Before I ever dreamed of entering the business, movies were an essential part of my life. The point being that if a studio giant couldn’t guess the biggest star in his business, the territory is a bit murkier than most of us would imagine."

Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood

Screenplays are structure, and that’s all they are. The quality of writing—which is crucial in almost every other form of literature—is not what makes a screenplay work. Structure isn’t anything else but telling the story, starting as late as possible, starting each scene as late as possible. You don’t want to begin with “Once upon a time,” because the audience gets antsy.” Goldman has many funny stories to tell about Hollywood insiders and a lot of the silliness that is present in the industry. Although he himself is a bona fide insider, it's clear that he holds Hollywood at arms'-length and doesn't take it or himself too seriously, which allows him to be free and candid with his observations.Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-06-25 13:01:15 Boxid IA40150812 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier Part Two: Adventures" has stories from 11 projects that Goldman has been involved with, from Charly and Masquerade, to the Academy Award-winning Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men, to some projects that remained unrealised, such as a musical remake of Grand Hotel.

Adventures In The Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood Adventures In The Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood

The structure of "Adventures In the Screen Trade" is very odd. Chapters start with one topic, then go off into tangents in sections that are highlighted in grey. Why grey? I still don't know. Also, Goldman's short-hand got on my nerves after a while. He'd say "Mr. Warner" instead of Warner Bros. At times he uses one-name monikers as opposed to full names. Again, this is the worst period within memory. By the time this book sees print, it may well be the best period within memory. The point being this: Movies are a gold-rush business. Adventures in the Screen Trade is a book about Hollywood written in 1983 by American novelist and screenwriter William Goldman. The title is a parody of Dylan Thomas's Adventures in the Skin Trade.After reading this very good look at how movies get made, it is kind of amazing that any truly good movies ever make it to the finish line. The book is written with humour as you would expect from the author of The Princess Bride. It includes the entire screenplay of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, followed by a section with Goldman's opinion of what worked and what didn't. A fascinating read. For reasons beyond me, Goldman brings up the tragic 1999 Columbine murders (which he annoyingly refers to as "Littleton"...the less-common reference to the town where the tragedy took place). And then of course, while you are stewing, he kills it. He writes the scenes that work, that play well and are the most logical next steps in the movie. It may not be Oscar-bait, but it’s a film you’ll like AND YOU WILL KNOW WHY ITS WRITTEN THAT WAY. The first three-fourths of this book is a funny and engaging behind-the-scenes look at being a Hollywood screenplay writer. Goldman wrote Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, and both the book and screenplay to A Princess Bride. It was fun for me to read about how he floundered with The Princess Bride until he came up with the idea of having the grandfather read “just the good parts,” which enabled him to jump around. Fifteen or twenty seconds of solid slam-bang action were shown. I had to see it. It was only playing for two nights in the middle of the week and I understood the importance of school the next day. But I knew I had to go. Problem: I couldn't go alone. I launched a campaign of such ferocity that my parents gave in. Grudgingly, we trooped off to Invitation to Happiness—

Adventures In The Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood

When discussing Butch Cassidy, Goldman humbly suggests that he's not that skilled at comedy. I disagree. In all of Goldman's movies, his humor—and his humanity—shines through, even in deadly serious movies such as All the President's Men. BTW, I was saddened to learn in this book that Goldman regrets his involvement with All the President's Men, for which he won his second Academy Award for adapted screenplay in 1977. You may even consider it predictable, but that’s a subjective view that you can only have AFTER READING THE SCRIPT. And you can always rewrite it to change it. Goldman also wrote a series of memoirs about his professional life on Broadway and in Hollywood. [The first of these was this book, "ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE".] Goldman starts by telling readers that Nobody Knows Anything in Hollywood, by which he means that the movie business is extremely hard to predict, marked by frequent failures and occasional big hits. That combination leads to high turnover in the studios and a high measure of paranoia because every studio executive knows that he/she will eventually be fired. This is a true insider's look at the screenwriting business (from the writer of All the President's Men, Marathon Man and – interestingly, the novel of Princess Bride) and interesting for anyone who writes or likes movies because - yes, there are fun gossipy asides about Hollywood (Robert Redford had ego!), but it's focus is on what makes a good story and how to write one that sells as a screenplay. They're not always the same thing.

Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2022-01-22 12:07:26 Bookplateleaf 0002 Boxid IA40334723 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier This book ends with an interesting device - Goldman includes half an unproduced screenplay of his for us to critique - it is a flawed screenplay, and its problems are the same as the problems with this book overall: it is muddled, and doesn't know what it is for sure. Goldman also name-drops like a gossip columnist with revealing details and tidbits about familiar names and the then-current (early 1982) Hollywood climate - Stallone, Redford and Newman feature prominently - and many forgotten or never heard of films have been added to my radar. This] is that big, sad, funny, incisive, revelatory, gossipy, perception-forming book about Hollywood that publishers have been promoting for years — and now the real thing is finally here."— St. Louis Post-Dispatch It’s divided into three sections. The first is a primer on the different roles in a Hollywood production. Unclear on what a Producer does? Wondering about how to manage agents? Or actors’ egos? Or studio execs? His strategies for getting through meetings in Hollywood are pure gold.